Shrinking season 3 finale explained: Paul's 'bye-bye breakfast' is not a breakfast at all
Paul Rhoades retired, moved to Connecticut and gave his practice to Gaby. He still flew back to Pasadena for one last appointment with Jimmy, and booked it at a restaurant.
Shrinking closed its third season on April 8, 2026, with "And That's Our Time," the 11th episode of a season Apple TV launched on January 28. The finale's big move belongs to Paul (Harrison Ford): he flies back from Connecticut for a "bye-bye breakfast" with Jimmy (Jason Segel), walks him into a restaurant and leaves him at a table with Sofi (Cobie Smulders), per NME's breakdown. The title is what a therapist says when the hour is up.
How Paul ended up in Connecticut
Season 3 was the year Paul's Parkinson's caught up with him. In the premiere, he meets Gerry, a fellow patient played by Michael J. Fox in his first project with co-creator Bill Lawrence since Spin City. Later, at Liz's wedding, Paul finds Gerry eating cake in Liz's house, and when Julie walks in, nobody is there, per TVLine. The Parkinson's has started showing Paul things.
By episode 10, "The Bodyguard of Sadness," Paul has retired, left his practice to Gaby (Jessica Williams) and decided to move with Julie (Wendie Malick) to be near his daughter Meg (Lily Rabe). Jimmy takes it badly.
At Alice's graduation party, he guilts Paul for needing help with his Parkinson's, accidentally reveals that he slept with Meg and tells Paul he matters less to Paul than Paul does to him (via Newsweek). Paul asks Jimmy to come say goodbye before he leaves. Jimmy doesn't show.
What happens in "And That's Our Time"
- Alice: She leaves for college in Connecticut. Jimmy's rehearsed airport goodbye gets drowned out by Summer, who turns up in the back seat on her way to the same flight.
- Gaby and Derrick: Gaby finds the ring Derrick (Damon Wayans Jr.) bought, gets it stuck on her finger and proposes to him first.
- Sean: He admits he moved out of Jimmy's pool house three days ago.
- Liz and Derek: They invite Gaby and Derrick along on their trip to Spain as an engagement present.
- Paul: In Connecticut, Alice tells him how lonely her dad must be, and he gets on a plane.
By the last act, Jimmy has said goodbye to his daughter, his tenant and his mentor. That's when Paul calls.
The breakfast
Paul doesn't take Jimmy's outburst personally. He calls it "textbook transference," TVLine notes, meaning Jimmy was yelling at his father Randy (Jeff Daniels) through Paul. Then he proposes the bye-bye breakfast, right now, since he's only in town for a couple of hours. Jimmy suggests they talk it all through over waffles.
Paul does the talking. He tells Jimmy to stop picturing how things are supposed to go, says Jimmy is more of a son to him than a burden, and says Jimmy isn't eating with him. He's eating with Sofi, who is sitting alone at a table. Jimmy ended things with her in the previous episode.
"Either stay stuck, or go make some new scars."
— Paul (Harrison Ford), in "And That's Our Time"
Jimmy sits down across from Sofi, and Brandi Carlile's "You Without Me" plays over the credits. Lawrence told TVLine that Jimmy always pictures how things "should look and how it should go," and that's the habit Paul's speech goes after. Summer already ruined the goodbye Jimmy planned for Alice, and Paul makes sure he doesn't get the one he planned for Paul either.
Paul gave away his practice in episode 10 and kept exactly one patient. The finale's title tells you the breakfast was a session.
Lawrence knows how much the scene leans on wish fulfillment. He told TheWrap he knows the finale is "a little exaggerated."
"I'm a big believer in found family and I'm a softy."
— Bill Lawrence, co-creator, to TheWrap
Is Harrison Ford leaving Shrinking?
No. Apple TV renewed Shrinking for season 4 on January 27, 2026, the day before season 3 premiered, and Ford is coming back. The move to Connecticut was planned with the next season in mind: Lawrence told Variety it's "with great intent" that Paul moves to the same state where Alice goes to college (via Variety Australia). He also said not to be surprised by a time jump, and Karen Gillan has joined the cast in a recurring role.
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Ford, who turned 84 in July and got a 2025 Emmy nomination for the role, has already said he could stop here.
"And if it was all over here, that would be sufficient."
— Harrison Ford, at Apple TV's press day, February 2026
Lawrence isn't treating season 4 as the end, though. He told TVLine that five or six seasons feels more like it. For now, Paul lives in the same state as Alice, and Jimmy will have to fly east for his next session.
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